Going cow calf to feeders

[MistyMorning]

1) To make serious money you need to buy calves out of season, not when everyone has green grass. So now you or someone else is back grounding light calves.
2) Lighter calves need more supplement since their rumen is not developed. I have turned out 4 wts but it was ugly, 5 wts work OK, 6 wts are safer, 7 wts require too much maintenance energy.
3) Lots of literature on supplementing. Energy with an ionophore is standard. DDG avoids the starch issue you have with corn. At a minimum - - you want to bucket them daily for a couple weeks to settle them down and get past the washy grass.
4) Goggle Gordon Hazard and buy his book.

Thanks Steve I'll get the book. And thanks all for the discussion I can tell I have a lot to learn in the near future.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Fall calves are generally more profitable. They hit that grass hard and take off in gains.

As stockers - - yes, calves are more profitable. But what about fall vs. spring calving cow profits? The standard line used to be that the feed cost was too high to make a fall calving profit in the north.

There are some guys here that pick them up here, but they only need a few. I aw some running age "June" calvers sell for 65 cents this week...

 

[Aaron]

Fall calves are generally more profitable. They hit that grass hard and take off in gains.

As stockers - - yes, calves are more profitable. But what about fall vs. spring calving cow profits? The standard line used to be that the feed cost was too high to make a fall calving profit in the north.

There are some guys here that pick them up here, but they only need a few. I aw some running age "June" calvers sell for 65 cents this week...

If selling calves, calf price is generally higher in spring than fall. Fall cows eat a little more than dry spring cows, but not much more. Hardest thing for me is getting all fall cows bred in a two cycle window. Definitely higher open rate than spring cows. Should probably run a 3 cycle window and that would eliminate issue, but I don't want to calve that long.

I am assuming you bought every June calver you could get your hands on?

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am assuming you bought every June calver you could get your hands on?

I used to buy the younger ones and try to move them up into May w/ CIDRs and good pasture. Like most things - - you have to go to attend a lot of sales to buy right. Currently we have a taste of spring weather and the guys with "free grass" are fighting over anything with a calf in it.